Let it be Known
by asdlghrlwhwbflsbfjhkslfh
Summary: They say dead men tell no tales. But when death suddenly becomes a bit more negotiable, a few of them decide it's time to speak up. /AU- canon-divergent/


**A buddy of mine actually came up with this idea when we were on Discord. It's basically an AU where Nagato's resurrection jutsu goes back further than he intended, and the Kage summit turns into a war crimes tribunal. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Kakashi, there's some more people over here!"

"Yeah, gimme a second."

Kakashi moves stiffly- somewhat mechanically, like his body doesn't really belong to him.

Of course, that might be expected; after all, it hasn't been too long since he was dead (or very nearly so). Being not-dead is gonna take awhile to get used to again.

He helps a mother pull her two children from the ruins of their home, along with their grandmother and pet dog.

A man who must certainly be the children's father comes sprinting toward them. He drops to his knees, sobbing helplessly while embracing the both of them.

Kakashi silently excuses himself, hurrying to find a quiet alcove to gather himself.

It's normal to be frazzled in this situation, he reminds himself. The village is levelled, after all. People are terrified, and confused- so it's normal that he is, too.

Especially after dying.

(Damn, does he have a headache.)

He rubs circles on his temples, trying to get his brain to _shut the fuck up_ for about five seconds.

Focus. He has to focus. They have to get everyone out of the wreckage and safe before they can even think about cleaning up the mess.

"You alright?"

(Of course. Of course Gai had to find him. Of fucking _course.)_

"I just need a second," Kakashi answers, waving him off and praying he'll go away.

"You sure? You look green."

It takes far too much effort to keep himself from glaring at Gai.

(He feels like throwing up, but he's sure there's nothing in his stomach _to_ throw up.)

"Yeah...I'm sure. If you wanna take a few people over and make sure everyone gets out of the school, I'll be right there to help okay?"

His tone isn't very convincing. He knows that- he can feel Gai's frown boring into the side of his head.

"Alright. See you in a minute, then."

(Thank god.)

Kakashi draws a few deep breaths, to gather himself.

He can't shut down. Konoha needs him to get it together so he can help. So Naruto's efforts aren't wasted.

Right. Gotta help.

He opens his eye and, with a deep, determined breath, emerges from his hideaway-

"-Where are my boys?!"

Kakashi's back meets an upright slab of concrete with a sickening crunch- hopefully from the concrete, and not from his bones.

His first thought, once the stars fade from his vision, is that maybe he's still dead.

After all- Uchiha Mikoto has been dead for the better part of a decade, right? So certainly, if she's in front of him, he must be, as well.

Right?

"Where are my boys?!" She repeats, shaking him violently by the shoulders.

"I- what?" Kakashi asks, rather stupidly.

"My _sons!"_ Mikoto practically shrieks. "Sasuke! Itachi! Where are they?!"

Kakashi blinks.

(Is this some sort of weird genjutsu?)

Mikoto slaps him.

"My sons!" She says again, her tone growing harsher still.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, I've been looking everywhere for-"

Mikoto's eyes go wide.

"Naruto? Is that Naruto?"

"Eh? Kakashi-sensei, who is this lady?"

"Oh my god- how long has it been?"

The boy scratches the back of his blond head in confusion.

Abruptly, Mikoto lets go of Kakashi. She grabs Naruto by the shoulders, black eyes boring into his blue.

"Where is Sasuke?! Is he alright? Is he safe?!"

Her tone is less demanding now- more pleading.

"Woah, calm down, lady _dattebayo!_ " Naruto entreats her, shoving her away from him. "Slow down a little- who even _are_ you?!"

(He really wishes Kakashi would say _something.)_

"Uchiha Mikoto!" the woman snaps back. "I'm thirty-five, born June first, ninja registration zero-zero-five-three-four-eight, rank Jounin. My parents are Uchiha Tenjin and Uchiha Kannon. I'm married to Uchiha Fugaku, son of Uchiha Yamako and Uchiha Takao. I'm Itachi and Sasuke's mother and blood type fucking A. What the hell else do you need to know?!"

Helpless, Naruto looks at the woman, then to his Sensei.

Kakashi's dumbstruck expression isn't helping.

"Just tell me where my boys are!" Mikoto begs.

Naruto once again scratches at his hair.

"...I dunno where Sasuke is," he admits, sheepishly. "Actually, it's been awhile since I've even seen him."

"...What?"

Naruto flinches.

"Well- lots of stuff happened really fast. We were taking the Chuunin exams but Orochimaru showed up and ruined everything- then Gaara flipped out so we had to help him- then everything went bad, and Sasuke ran away and-"

"Ran away where?!"

"-I don't know! He ran off with Orochimaru and-"

"-My son is with Orochimaru?!" Mikoto shrieks, terror in her voice.

"-Lemme finish, lady!"

Mikoto's mouth presses into a grim line, though it takes all her restraint to keep silent.

"...Sasuke was with Orochimaru for a couple years- I dunno what all they did together. But Sasuke killed Orochimaru and went off on his own again, and I dunno where he is."

Naruto takes a deep breath.

"He'd made his mind up a long time ago. He wanted to settle the score with Itachi- to get back at him for what he did to you and the other Uchiha."

Naruto and Kakashi can see the gears turning in Mikoto's mind as she processes this information.

"...So Itachi is-"

"-He's dead," Kakashi confirms. "Sasuke killed him."

Color drains from Mikoto's face, taking a disbelieving step backward.

"...My baby is…"

Kakashi finally seems to have collected his wits.

"Listen, we can sit down and talk about everything later. Right now, I need to know- are there any others? Uchiha, I mean."

Mikoto manages a nod.

"At the compound."

Kakashi nods as well.

"Okay. Listen- I'm gonna get some people together, and we can see if we can figure this mess out, alright?"

He turns toward Naruto.

"Go with her to the Uchiha compound. I'm gonna find Yamato and Sakura and a couple others- I'll meet up soon."

"Yeah!"

* * *

At the gates to the Uchiha compound, Naruto is immediately greeted by frantic faces and panicked voices. Mothers call desperately for their children, husbands for their wives, children for their siblings. Somewhere in the distance, a little girl is screaming for her father.

Naruto's blue eyes go so wide they might pop out of his head.

"What the hell is going on?" he mumbles- mostly to himself.

"Fugaku!"

Mikoto throws herself into her husband's arms, squeezing him tightly. He embraces her back, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"Where are they?" he asks her, a deep line of worry cutting its way through his forehead.

(Naruto has to try very hard not to stare at the scarlet hole where Fugaku's left eye had once been.)

Suddenly, Mikoto pushes him away, tears welling up in her dark eyes.

"...Itachi is… he's-"

She chokes on the last word, pressing her hand against her mouth to stifle a sob.

Fugaku's breath catches in his throat; she doesn't need to say anything more for him to understand.

"...What about Sasuke?"

"-We don't know," Naruto says, guilt staining his voice. "I'm sorry."

Fugaku lets out a shaky sigh; his legs give out underneath him, and he hits the ground with a heavy _thud._ Mikoto kneels down with him. She kisses his forehead, stroking his prematurely graying hair while murmuring words Naruto can't hear.

"I promise I'll find him!" He swears to the two of them,desperate to offer them any sort of comfort. "I'll find him _dattebayo!"_

Kakashi finally returns, Yamato, Gai, Sai and Sakura at his heels. They share a look of disbelief at the crowd of people before them.

"What's going on?" Sakura asks.

"...I think it's Nagato," Naruto answers.

"Huh?" Yamato's brow furrows.

"That jutsu Nagato did _dattebayo._ He said it'd bring everybody back...maybe it brought back more people than he planned…?"

"But how is that possible?" Yamato marvels, to which Naruto shrugs.

Fugaku rises unsteadily to his feet, and glances over at Kakashi.

"How long has it been?"

"Huh? Um- eight years or so, I think."

"Eight years…"

He rubs his eye, and lets out another great sigh.

"And how long has Sasuke been missing for?"

"...Three years."

"God damn it!"

Fugaku punches the wall beside him, cracking the concrete. His head hangs heavy, shoulders slumping forward as if a great weight rested on them.

"Captain!"

A wide-eyed man sprints up to Fugaku, gasping for breath from either exertion or fear.

"-Captain, you're gonna wanna look at this-"

Fugaku takes hold of Mikoto's hand. They follow the boy, and the others follow the couple.

The crowd of Uchiha immediately parts to allow them to pass; they walk briskly, just shy of a run.

"I can't believe this- I don't believe this," the man mutters repeatedly, like a mantra.

Sakura lets out a little yelp of horror. Mikoto gasps, and Fugaku recoils. Kakashi turns as white as his hair, as if he's staring at a ghost.

Water drips freely from the boy before them, plastering jet black hair against his forehead, torn clothing clinging to his body. He gropes the air in front of him as he slowly inches forward.

Gaping, bloody chasms mark the place where his eyes should have been.

"...Shisui?" Mikoto murmurs.

The boy's head snaps upward.

"Mikobaa, is that you?"

"Yes- yes, Shisui, it's me…"

Shisui fumbles blindly forward, until his hands meet hers. She hugs him tightly, finally crying in earnest, not caring that the boy is absolutely drenched.

"Shisui...Shisui…"

"Mikobaa, what's going on?" the boy half-whimpers. "I...I died, didn't I? I swear I did…"

"-We all did," Mikoto says.

Shisui's brow furrows. His grip tightens around his aunt.

"...He did it, then."

"Who did what?"

Shisui straightens out, his expression growing serious.

"Is Fugaku-Ojii here?"

"...I am."

"Where's Sandaime?"

"Orochimaru killed him a long time ago _dattebayo."_

"Killed-"

Shisui runs a hand through his soaking wet hair.

"...Who's Hokage right now?" He asks, nervously.

"Right now it's Tsunade-same," Sakura answers. "But she's...out of commission for awhile."

The anxiety in Shisui's frame lessens slightly.

"Where's Danzo? Is he still around?"

Sai makes a small, startled sound, and all heads turn in his direction.

"...Danzo-sama is alive," he answers, his voice small.

Shisui growls, reaching for the weapons pouch still around his waist.

"I'll kill him-"

Gai and Kakashi each grab one of Shisui's arms to restrain him. Shisui thrashes wildly, howling obscenities.

"I'll kill him! I'll fucking kill him! I'll kill that bastard!"

"Woah woah woah! Nobody's killing anyone right now!"

"He did this! He fucking did this!" Shisui screams.

Shisui- calm down."

Fugaku's voice is low and commanding, yet gentle. The boy goes limp, his head falling forward like it were suddenly full of lead; harsh sobs wrack his entire frame.

"Shisui, what do you mean, 'he did this'?"

"He made Itachi do it- Itachi never wanted to hurt anyone-"

He shakes his head violently, sending water flying in all directions.

"...Danzo wanted it to be me- but I told him to take a fucking hike. I tried to fix it- but the bastard stole my eye and tried to kill me!"

Shisui whimpers.

"He what?" Fugaku mutters.

"I wanted to fix everything- don't be angry- I was gonna use the Kotoamatsukami to stop the coup d'etat, but Danzo wouldn't accept it. So he stole my eye...he would've killed me if Itachi hadn't stepped in."

The other Uchiha are quickly gathering around them, murmuring worriedly amongst themselves.

"Itachi...I wanted Itachi to be able to protect himself. He needed to be strong enough to protect himself. And I couldn't let Danzo get my other eye. So I-"

He buries his face in his hands.

"-I threw myself in the river. I had to. If I didn't he was just gonna keep coming after me."

"...You mean, Itachi didn't-"

"He forged the note- I told him to. But he didn't kill me. He couldn't have."

Shisui shakes with the effort of recounting his story.

"Fuck...I really died…"

Despite everything, a shaky smile ghosts its way across Fugaku's tired face.

"...I knew it."

Kakashi speaks up.

"What do you mean, Danzo made Itachi do it? He wanted you to do what?"

"The massacre, dumbass," Shisui retorts.

A hush falls over the gathering.

"...After they heard about the coup, Danzo and the others pressured Sandaime to do something. Sandaime begged Itachi and I to try to buy time to work out a peaceful solution, but Danzo didn't wanna wait that long. He convinced Itachi there was no other way- that Sasuke would have to die, that there was gonna be a war- and the only way to stop it was to get rid of all of us."

Shisui laughs feebly.

"...You guys probably blamed him when I died, right? I wouldn't be surprised- but poor Itachi must've been so upset…"

An older Uchiha woman (also missing one of her eyes) finally breaks through the crowd. Weeping in both despair and joy, she reaches out to touch the boy's face.

"Shisui…"

Shisui leans into her touch.

"...Hi, mom."

"My poor baby...my poor little boy…"

Gai rubs the back of his neck, processing everything.

"So- what are we supposed to do?" he asks Kakashi.

Kakashi looks around, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Guys-"

Attention turns now to a frightened, dark-haired girl.

"Izumi? Is something wrong?"

The girl points off in the distance.

A collective chill sweeps through the crowd.

Shuffling through the narrow roads of the compound, ghostly white and trembling- is an all too familiar face.

"Sandaime!" Yamato gasps.

The man raises his head, and stares, dumbstruck, at the resurrected Uchiha clan.


End file.
